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Four reactors in Japan, Scotland and Israel were recently shutdown after jellyfish blocked the screens used to filter out the seawater needed to cool down the reactors. Apparently there have been dozens of similar shut downs over the last few decades and scientists still are struggling to figure out why there has been such a large increase in the jellyfish population.
Have you ever thought how jellyfish babies get born? And what does a hermit crab got anything to do with ‘em?
Creature Cast Blog from Scitable (a free science library from the science publishing powerhouse Nature) explains:
This particular animal is called Podocoryna carnea. Like most jellies and close relatives of jellies, it has a pretty elaborate life cycle. This one involves a free swimming jellyfish, and a larva that swims around then lands on the back of a hermit crab’s shell. Then the larva metamorphoses into a polyp, which buds more polyps, growing into a whole colony on the crab’s back. The colony is made up of lots of polyps that are all connected and share fluid through a web of tubes that circulate partially digested food. Some members of this colony will eventually bud new swimming jellyfish.
Link (with video clip of the budding jelly babies) – Thanks Molly Gerth!
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Smithsonian magazine takes a closer look at nine of the 20,000 species of jellyfish that populate the world’s oceans. Some are tasty. some are lethal, and some are just plain strange, like this specimen of Bathykorus bouilloni, which somewhat resembles Darth Vader, don’t you think? Link
(Image credit: Kevin Raskoff)
Scientists have named a previously undiscovered type of jellyfish found in a Tasmanian river. The Csiromedusa medeopolis (Greek for “city of gonads”) wears its sex organs like a crown on top of its body. It’s quite different from any other jellyfish ever cataloged:
Launceston jellyfish expert Lisa-Ann Gershwin says it is an astounding discovery.
“It’s absolutely different from every other jellyfish that’s ever been known,” Dr Gershwin said.
“So we not only put it into its own new species and its own new genus, but it’s actually a brand new family.”
Link via Geekologie | Photo: ABC News
Climate change isn’t all bad; it just depends on your perspective! If you’re a mountain, a jellyfish, or some of the other things on this list, your future may be pretty bright.
1. GREENLAND GETS A MAKEOVER
The town of Qaqortoq (Julianehåb), Greenland by Jens Buurgaard Nielsen
[wikipedia]
In “The Princess Bride,” the evil genius scolds his henchman by saying, “Do you want me to send you back where you were? Unemployed … in Greenland?”
That threat might have carried some weight in the movie, but in real life, Greenland’s prospects are looking up. Its massive ice sheet is rapidly thawing, which means more and more arable land is surfacing all across the island. Industrious residents have begun growing broccoli and other crops during summer months, and speculators are drilling for gold, diamonds, and coal. Geological surveys also suggest that Greenland may contain vast offshore oil reserves.
These newfound sources of wealth have the island’s 58,000 residents, most of them Inuit, feeling empowered. In November 2008, three-quarters of them voted for independence from Denmark, which has governed the island as a colony for centuries. Ambitious local politicians even hinted that, if the movement continues, they may deserve some special consideration from the European Union. Especially because, as the Arctic ice continues to melt, new shipping lanes will open up just off of Greenland’s coast.
2. JELLYFISH LIVING LARGE
Although times are rough for most ocean-dwelling plants and animals, jellyfish are flourishing. For reasons that scientists don’t completely understand, the higher temperatures and increased acidification of ocean water are making the marine environment more hospitable to jellyfish. In addition, the overfishing of predators has left this invertebrate with an abundance of plankton to munch on. All these factors have led to record jellyfish “blooms” around the world, from Mexico to Great Britain to South Africa. In some parts of the Black Sea, blooms contain as many as 1,000 tiny comb jellyfish per cubic meter.
GOOD Magazine video of the Giant Nomura jellyfish [YouTube
Clip]
But do good times mean drawbacks for humans? You bet. Some jellyfish can weigh up to 450 lbs., with tentacles up to 120 feet long. Massive Nomura jellyfish off the coast of Japan have decimated fishing villages by devouring fish eggs and tearing apart fishing nets. Plus, as we all know, their stings are nasty. Swarms around Hawaii and Japan have wreaked havoc on tourism industries that rely heavily on snorkeling and boat tours.
3. MOUNTAINS REACH NEW HEIGHTS
Jungfrau, one of the summits of the Alps. Photo: Jphoto [wikipedia]
While climate change is forcing glaciers to recede, it’s also allowing mountains to get taller. As the water stored in glaciers drains away, they mountains underneath them have less of a load to carry. And without all that weight, they can rise to their full heights. In the western arm of the Alps, for instance, mountains are growing at a rate of .035 inches per year. That’s good news for skiers, climbers, and large hills with Napoleon complexes.
4. HELLO, SMALLPOX
Smallpox virions. Transmission electron micrograph by Dr. Fred Murphy,
Sylvia Whitfield / CDC
After decades of vaccination campaigns, the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated in December 1979. But thanks to global warming, this little virus, which wiped out half a billion people during the 20th century, may be making a comeback.
Scientists believe that smallpox can live for decades, or even centuries, while frozen in the Arctic tundra. As temperatures continue to rise, some experts believe there is a distinct possibility that caches of smallpox stored in the ice could thaw, leading to a global epidemic. Indeed, when a mass grave was unearthed in Siberia in the 1980’s , testing showed that the antigen the virus was still active in the dead bodies. It’s a terrifying thought, but there is some good news. Even if smallpox resurfaces, an effective vaccine has already been in invented, so casualties wouldn’t be nearly as high as they were in previous centuries.
5. SATELLITES SPIN FASTER
Track Earth's satellites with NASA J-Track-3D
[Java applet]
For years, space researchers have recorded small changes in the speed of orbiting satellites. Sometimes they’d speed up; other times they’d slow down. Scientists soon found a correlation between these changes and the 11-year cycle of sunspots—the dark areas on the surface of the Sun that are caused by intense magnetic activity. Sunspots alter the density of the gases in the thermosphere, the outer layer of the atmosphere that is home to most satellites. When the gases become less dense, satellites travel faster; when they become more dense, satellites slow down.
It turns out that it isn’t just the Sun that’s been affecting the satellites, though. Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are also altering their speeds. On the surface of the Earth, carbon dioxide actually cools things down. This makes the thermosphere less dense, allowing satellites to go faster. Scientists confirmed the effect in 2006, and the phenomenon may actually be benefiting us. With less drag, satellites require fewer course corrections and stay aloft longer, meaning that the giant hunks of metal won’t fall to the ground as often.
__________
The
article above, written by Gideon Banner, appeared in the Jan - Feb 2010
issue of mental_floss magazine. It is reprinted here with permission.
Don't forget to feed your brain by subscribing to the magazine and visiting mental_floss' extremely entertaining website and blog today!
Remember how envious you were of the lucky person who got the best job in the world? Ben Southall, who beat 35,000 job applicants to live in a luxury island home in Australia and blog about the Great Barrier Reef was stung this week by an Irukandji jellyfish.
Australia is well-known for its myriad deadly creatures, but the peanut-sized Irukandji remains rather mysterious. It is virtually impossible to see and is tiny enough to pass through nets meant to keep jellyfish away from popular swimming spots.
Its sting can lead to symptoms including shooting pains in the muscles and chest, vomiting, restlessness and anxiety. Some symptoms can last for more than a week, and the syndrome can occasionally lead to a rapid rise in blood pressure and heart failure.
In 2002, two tourists were killed in separate incidents after being stung by the tiny creatures off northeast Australia — the first recorded Irukandji fatalities.
Southall was taken to a hospital where he spent the night, but has recovered enough to enjoy the final week of his six month assignment. Link -via Buzzfeed
Photo: Kevin Raskoff
The 2005 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administratin (NOAA) research expedition to the Canada Basin, the deepest and least explored part of the Arctic waters revealed many new and fantastic species of jellyfish.
National Geographic has a neat gallery of these jellyfish, courtesy of Kevin Raskoff of the Monterey Peninsula College. This one above is the aptly named narcomedusa, which kind of look like it has benefited from British dentistry (kidding! No hate mail, please!): Link
Up until now, scientists believed that coral only ate plankton and other micro-organisms, but a new discovery shows the mushroom coral can actually eat jellyfish almost its same size. Scientists were diving near the Israeli city of Eilat in the Red Sea, when they photographed the phenomenon for the first time.
“We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw it,” Ms Alamaru, a member of the research team, says. “This is definitely unusual. As far as I know no other coral are reported to feed on jellyfish. However, some sea anemones, which are close relatives of corals, are documented feeding on other jelly species.”
Scientists have suspected that coral must eat microscopic baby jellyfishes, but this is the first time they were presented with evidence of the animal eating adult jellies.
Link Image by Omri Bronstein from the Tel Aviv University
Ever wish that itsy bitsy crab you had for dinner were bigger, so that you could eat more of one instead of ordering another dish? Why not order a coconut crab, a Tasmanian giant crab or a Japanese spider crab? Who knows, with 13 ft of crab to deal with, you might not even be able to finish it all!
(Also available: escargot So big, you can’t even wrap your hands around it.)
This article over at Cracked also features jellyfish, spiders, worms and other creepy crawlies you would love to see magnified.
Puppies, kittens, infants: All adorable. And do you know why? Because they’re tiny. If you start to magnify these things, then you wind up with the substantially less cute wolves, jaguars and teenagers.
Yes, if there’s one thing nature teaches us, it’s that what may start out as an adorable little animal friend can quickly turn into a Lovecraftian horror when its itty-bitty wittle mouth gets big enough to start eating your face. And when the little versions are already a little bit creepy, the big versions are the stuff nightmares are made of.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by Silver.
(image credit: Martin George/QVMAG)
